Did You Know…

There is a difference between cleaned, sanitized, and disinfected? Simply put, we want to share the differences between these three options so you can keep you and your family healthy.

This information we are sharing with you today comes from LifesCarousel.com:

“DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BACTERIA AND VIRUSES

Before we get started I want to say a few quick words about the difference between bacteria and viruses. Not all sickness bugs are created equally!

I’m not going to get too technical, but even though some bacteria and viruses can cause the same symptoms (coughing, sneezing, running nose) they are very very different.

Bacteria are single-cell organisms that can survive without a host (your body!). Most bacteria do not make a human sick, in fact, a lot of types of bacteria are very beneficial to us and help our bodies remain healthy.

If you take antibiotics to kill bad bacteria, you will also be killing off the good bacteria! So anyways think twice before taking antibiotics for mild illnesses!

Viruses, on the other hand, are much smaller than bacteria and require a host to survive. They can not survive for long outside the body.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CLEANING, SANITIZING AND DISINFECTING

I bet you didn’t realize that there is a difference between cleaning something, sanitizing it and disinfecting it?

Again, I don’t want to go into a lot of mega detail, but the basics are as follows:

• Cleaning – removes dirt, debris, grease, and germs. Cleaning can physically remove germs from a surface, but doesn’t kill them. 
• Sanitize – reduces the number of germs on a surface to an acceptable level, this reduces the risk of spreading infections.
• Disinfect – kills the germs on surfaces so there is no risk of spreading the infection.

A clean surface might not be sanitized, and a sanitized surface might not be clean!

When deciding how to clean your home after an illness, it is important to work smarter, not harder. So you want to pick the right product to sanitize or disinfect your home.”

Your Two Chums are prone to choose a natural cleaner when at all possible. This article from LifesCarousel.com gives a number of options and explanations. You can read them all here.

But among the options for a natural and effective cleaner and disinfectant, our favorite is hydrogen peroxide. It is easy to find, inexpensive and very effective. It can be used on nearly all hard surfaces and in your laundry as well. If you are using it on fabric or soft surfaces, be sure and test a surface to be sure it is safe to use on that surface.

In most cases viruses are not killed on contact. There is what is known as dwell time, which is the time it takes to kill a virus. Since it is difficult, if not impossible, to know if you have removed all germs when you clean, it is important to allow any disinfectant you use (in this case hydrogen peroxide) to sit on the surface you are cleaning for at least 2 minutes and up to 5 minutes if possible.

Be sure and clean all the surfaces you touch regularly in a normal day. Those could include:

• Light switches
• Door handles
• Stair handrails
• Faucets
• Toilet handles
• Toilet seats
• Cabinet handles
• Telephones
• Remote controls
• Steering wheel in car
• Car door handles (inside and out)

We hope this helps as you clean and disinfect your home and surroundings and navigate this new normal we all find ourselves in during this time of world wide corona virus. Keeping your surrounding in good order is important, but equally important is keeping your heart and mind in the right order.

Stay grateful, stay hopeful, stay loving. And don’t forget to live knowing that this life, even in hard times, is an abundant one and is meant to be joyful. Stay joyful.